Lecture on the History of Skywriting
May 27, 2016
Anne Carson performs Lecture on the History of Skywriting, April 2016. Photograph by Andrew Kist
On April 17, the celebrated poet Anne Carson performed a staged reading of Lecture on the History of Skywriting with her collaborator Robert Currie and Faisal bin Ali Jaber, an engineer from Yemen whose nephew Waleed bin Ali Jaber and brother-in-law Salem bin Ali Jaber were killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2012.
Robert Currie (left) and Faisal bin Ali Jaber (right) during a performance of Lecture on the History of Skywriting, April 2016. Photograph by Andrew Kist
In this text, Carson adopts the viewpoint of the sky, remarking on “her” daily interactions with the planets and observations of Earth. The performance included a dialogue with Currie and a reading of part of Carson’s text in Arabic by Jaber.
Left to right: Faisal bin Ali Jaber, Amin Husain and Cori Cryder, April 2016. Photograph by Andrew Kist
Following this reading, Cori Crider, lawyer and director of Reprieve U.S., spoke with Jaber and translator Amin Husain about the day of the drone strike and Jaber’s subsequent experiences traveling to the U.S. to seek an apology for the attack from the U.S. Government. Jaber’s story resonated powerfully with Laura Poitras: Astro Noise, which included video evidence of the drone strike that killed Jaber’s relatives.
This was the final program in the series of talks, performances and screenings organized in connection with Laura Poitras: Astro Noise.
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Jackie Kong, Public Programs Intern